Bulldogs run roughshod over Patriots

October 8, 2011

MARTINSBURG - It took mere seconds for Martinsburg's Chris Perkins to find the end zone on his first touchdown against Washington on Friday.

And it took mere seconds for the speedy Perkins to find paydirt on his second touchdown of the game.

With a couple of quick touchdowns, it took the Bulldogs about a quarter to put away the Patriots and start the rout.

Article Video

football

The state's top team wasted no time pouncing on Washington, and the result was another dominating win as Martinsburg defeated the Patriots 60-0.

"I thought we did what we had to do," Martinsburg coach David Walker said.

What the Bulldogs did was fire on all cylinders as they won their 20th game in dominating fashion, posting their fifth shutout in six tries this season and scoring 60 points for the second time in three games.

Article Photos

Martinsburg’s Justin Clinton dives in for a touchdown after taking a short pass from Brandon Ashenfeltner as Washington’s Jalen Jackson, top, and Tyrek Collier make a tackle during the first quarter of their football game Friday at Cobourn Field. (Journal photo by Chris Jackson)

Already a strong team, Martinsburg continues to improve with each game.

"Our goal is just to make ourselves better, to be more crisp with our plays," Perkins said. "We want to continue to work on things that need to be worked on and kind of run through the motions."

Perkins did his part in the win, running to the end zone twice. The Bulldogs' jack-of-all-trades showed his versatility by scoring in two different ways. After Washington's opening drive stalled, Perkins got Martinsburg on the scoreboard first with a 65-yard punt return with 8:56 left in the first quarter.

Later in the game, Perkins found the end zone again when he broke up the middle for a 52-yard score late in the second quarter to put the Bulldogs up 40-0 at the time.

Perkins finished with 47 rushing yards and had two returns of 50-plus yards.

"On the punt return, I got a couple of good blocks and found green," he said. "On the run, Washington had been stacking guys in the box, and I found a hole to run through and found green."

Clearly trying to stop Martinsburg's vaunted running attack, the Patriots did stack the box on several occasions.

The Bulldogs took advantage as quarterback Brandon Ashenfelter completed 10 of 15 passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns.

Ashenfelter connected with Justin Clinton on a 15-yard score and Chad Skye on a 11-yard scoring pass in the first quarter.

He found Clinton for a second time midway through the second quarter on a 20-yard pass. Clinton caught the ball around the 10, eluded a tackler and scored. The touchdown was set up by a failed fake punt by Washington that put the Bulldogs at the Patriot 20.

Martinsburg scored on six of its first seven possessions and finished with 395 yards of offense.

"We were able to do some big things on offense, and I thought we played pretty well up front," Walker said.

Then there's the Bulldogs' defense, which completely shut down Washington's offense, holding the Patriots to 111 yards of offense.

Washington quarterback Tyler Wilt started the game with 11 straight incompletions before completing three of his final four passes and finishing with 61 yards through the air. Running back Tyrek Collier was held to just 41 yards on 15 carries.

"We do some good things on defense," Walker said. "We really haven't been tested the last few weeks, but we have a big challenge coming up next week."

That challenge comes in the form Patrick Henry, Va. The Bulldogs will try and continue to do what they do, and that's win.